Archive for
September, 2010

Cyberpunk is a curious beast – it feels just as virtual as cyberspace itself, and yet it’s based in shocking reality. There’s an art to it all; with all the dingy alleyways, cyborg fashions and towering industrial complexes we see in comics, films and games, cyberpunk feels more fantastical than it wants us to believe. Of course, it is a theme within science fiction – just like space opera, steampunk and raygun gothic adventures – but it’s always felt so much more real, and dare I say, achievable than the others.

I’m not really qualified to talk about how cyberpunk works through exposing realistic human conditions, and I would be stating the obvious when citing its ‘near future’ setting, rather than the distance of a re-imagined past or alien world. That’s all a given. Instead I wonder, how is it that cyberpunk manages to look and feel like it’s only one turn away down a street corner?

I went to Dragon*Con earlier this month as a speaker and as a fan of many aspects of geekdom. The great thing about the conference is that you can meet people of from every sort of fandom possible. It’s a huge convention in Atlanta, spanning across 5 hotels.

One panel I wanted to make sure to see was one on Ghost in the Shell. I arrived early only to find a line already waiting. Luckily I was able to get in and listen to the panel.

One of the moderators was Dennis, aka “DragonKhan”. He also started and moderates the LaughingMan Squad Yahoo! group. What was interesting is that Dennis didn’t fit the stereotype of a “cyberpunk fan”. For one thing, he’s older than Bruce Sterling. But, he was obviously a true fan and I enjoyed the discussion on the panel and wanted to talk to him more.

I asked Dennis to answer some questions about himself and the group. Do check out the Yahoo! group and perhaps contribute. After all, it’s always nice to talk to other enthusiastic fans!

NPR recently had an interview with William Gibson. Although they mentioned his new book, Zero History, they didn’t talk much about it. Instead, it’s a great conversation about science fiction in general.

You can listen to a recording at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/17/midmorning2/

Users the world over engage in a virtual, multi-user environment in which they, playing the protagonist, must work their way up an increasingly violent learning curve. They share their experiences, of the struggle and of the enemies which seek to destroy them. It is a finite experience, and their journey does have an end; once this endgame arrives, they will start the process afresh.

If you’ll forgive my cheesy comparison, this is not merely a summary of the World of Warcraft-style MMO grind; it is Mercerism, the semi-religious practise carried out in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Yeah, not surprising. Well, actually, the problem was on our side. :) The plugin we used to echo posts to Twitter broke because Twitter changed how they accept posts. I posted a few manual updates to Twitter for some posts that didn’t get mentioned. Anyway, I updated the plugin and things should be back to normal.

…famous last words, right?

EDIT: Oops, the tweet went to my Psychochild account instead of the InternetCrashed one. Fixed that up, things should be doomed. I mean fine….

Whilst nobody would have cause (or would wish to) write cyberpunk’s obituary just yet, it’s clear that the theme has diversified, and its ideals have been adopted by many more media, since the 1980s. Lawrence Person wrote to Slashdot about the modern-day iteration of this theme, labelling them ‘post-cyberpunk’. Our own Psychochild has speculated upon the post-cyberpunk future too.

Cyberpunk works have taken a different tone, partly because writers today grew up with this science fiction sub-genre. The content has arguably changed because its once-radical themes have become passé, just as space travel once held a much larger sway in science-fiction. We see cyberpunk everywhere from games to comics and blockbuster films, and not just in our cult bookshelves. Does this dampen the message, or does it actually lend it strength? Are we losing sight of the way cyberpunk is delivered?